"Lets imagine I am on the Titanic. There are not enough lifeboats (we all know the story.. ). I am hurled into the icy water as the ship goes down. I manage, Kate Winslet-style, to cling onto a piece of wood, which does in fact save my life. In the absence of the lifeboats which should have saved me in the first place. I don't then proclaim pieces of wood in general as 'life saving'...."
Particularly in a situation where the lifeboats are there on the margins, and are simply not being sent out because the powers that be don't think it's worth it when there are bits of wood for people to cling to instead......
Sorry Winky - I'm with Tiktok on this one. In rich countries there is no reason for not having milk banks or proper support for breastfeeding mothers. Instead of celebrating the life saving powers of formula we should be outraged that so many women are having to resort to it when there is so little true biological need.
Would also point out that in all but the most impoverished, desperate societies, babies who cannot be fed on their mothers milk are usually fed by other members of their extended family. In war-torn, famine stricken and politically unstable countries this may not happen because of the breakdown of community and family structures, but otherwise it's worth noting that lack of a mothers milk has not always been, and is not now an inevitable death sentence for babies in places or at times when formula is not a viable option.